Just a couple of days ago nin said we were about due for a coffee story, which provoked the fates, though this wasn't one of my better incidents, as no lifeboats or fire extinguishers were involved. You may recall I weaned myself off my severe coffee addiction, but have since begun allowing myself a single cup a day. I've been using a fairly cheap Cuisinart coffee grinder since my Kitchen Aid grinder bought the farm, and over the course of time, it has become more and more temperamental, whirring along on nothing and requiring me to hit it and shake it repeatedly to get beans into the grinding zone. This morning it stopped responding at all to this delicate and subtle procedure, so I took it apart again (I'd done this a couple of times to see what was going on). This time I figured out the problem, as there is a feeder tube leading from the bean hopper and I realized that this had developed a thick layer of packed coffee grounds and the tube was easily less than half its original size: a sort of coffee atherosclerosis. After clearing that the grinder worked like new, making me feel pretty stupid for spending so much time over the last year beating on something that just needed a simple cleaning (I am just a caveman, and know nothing of your modern ways). And I have to tip my hat to this little Cuisinart for continuing to work after all the grinding (I had to run it through about five full cycles to get a batch of grounds) and physical abuse.

Yeah, Bats -- I don't have any hydration problems despite my copious consumption of caffeine. I have little doubt others would. I also don't have sleep issues. It's not uncommon for me to have 24 oz of soda within the 1.5 hours prior to bedtime and yet I rarely take more than 5 minutes to fall asleep. *shrug*

POP scores C+ Critics, A- Yahoo users on Yahoo, and a 48 Critics, 9.0 Users on Metacritic. I generally have a rule that I won't see a film unless it has 80+/8.0/80%/B+ Users and 70+/7.0/70%/C+ Critics. But with a spread like this I know exactly what type of film POP is. It's a fun Summer flic!

I think we cover the coffee as a diarhetic thing all the time, but I know if I drink a lot of coffee and don't balance it with water (or drink at least 36 ounces of water a day) that I dry out. My skin quickly reacts.

I think it depends on everyone's chemistry - as I know those who don't drink any water and drink pop and coffee all day in excess. They have also had stones - but they don't show any skin reactions nor do they complain of drying out.....

If I do "dry out" it takes me about 3 days of drinking 60+ ounces of water a day to balance my body out.

Mr. Tact wrote on May 28, 2010, 17:43:Yeah, well basically I think all diet soft drinks suck -- but I can't be drinking that much regular soda...

I actually acclimated myself to it via a fountain mix of regular Mt. Dew and Diet Mt. Dew over time -- starting with about 25% diet / 75% regular and slowly building the amount of diet over time. Took about a month to make the transition...

Yeah, well basically I think all diet soft drinks suck -- but I can't be drinking that much regular soda...

I actually acclimated myself to it via a fountain mix of regular Mt. Dew and Diet Mt. Dew over time -- starting with about 25% diet / 75% regular and slowly building the amount of diet over time. Took about a month to make the transition...

After the likely painful withdrawal from your system, why would you let yourself drink it again?

A) I still felt I was missing the pick-me-up effect even after weaning off it.B) I presume by limiting myself to a single cup a day, problems from withdrawal will be significantly less.C) I really like coffee.

FDA: Possible Fracture Risk with High Dose, Long-term Use of Proton Pump Inhibitors

Interesting. I actually have stopped taking my Protonix because I suspect I was having a reaction from it causing significant itching. On doing a little further research on PPIs I found a number of side-effects that seemed pretty scary which make me wary of trying a different one, not to mention my discomfort with the idea that I would have to take them for the rest of my life.

I'm currently in the mode of trying to control my LPRD with Tums, dietary moderation, and am also seeing if I can get relief from drinking aloe vera, which some reflux sufferers swear by (however it is really foul).

My own personal research (i.e. drinking it) tells me the opposite of what those say.

If I understand it correctly, the recent revelation was not that beverages with caffeine or alcohol are not diuretics, but rather the newfound understanding that while diuretics will cause you to pee more, the net effect is still hydration, rather than dehydration.

In other words, while you will pee more from coffee than plain water, you still don't end up peeing out more liquid than you take in in either case.